DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit celebrated a major milestone Tuesday with the unveiling of a new two-mile stretch of the Joe Louis Greenway and a statue honoring the boxing legend in a new light.
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The expansion brings the total completed greenway to six miles, with six more miles set to open next year. The new segment features a trailhead park near Grand River and Oakman, where excitement filled the air as Mayor Mike Duggan and city officials revealed the latest addition to the project.
"It is going to be transformational for our entire community," City Councilman Fred Durhal said.
The full 27-mile loop will eventually connect neighborhoods in Highland Park, Dearborn, and Hamtramck. For residents like Gerald Jeter, who lives and worships in the community, the greenway is already making a difference.
"We went from blight to beauty," Jeter said. "This goes through neighborhoods, and it has impacts on the people in those neighborhoods because they're sprucing up their back yards, they're fixing their fences, they're painting their garages because the greenway goes right through there."
The centerpiece of Tuesday's celebration was the unveiling of a new statue of Joe Louis — not as a boxer, but as a golfer. The sculpture honors his fight beyond the ring, breaking racial barriers in golf and paving the way for others.
Joe Louis' daughter, Joyce Barrow-Henderson, attended the ceremony and said the greenway represents everything her father stood for in unifying neighborhoods, parks, and people.
"I think no matter what race or creed you are, we're all proud of him," Barrow-Henderson said. "People are still saying his name because of the things that came after boxing, so I'm excited because this is just another piece to the story."
Barrow-Henderson hopes the statue, the greenway, and her father's legacy will continue to inspire future generations.
"I'm hoping that they'll still tell the story of Detroit and Joe Louis because it goes hand and hand," she said. "The spirit of Detroit and Detroiters, they're not quitters, they never give up, and that's Joe Louis — the spirit of determination."
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